New national agreements for Royal Mail members
7th August 2012
Two important new national agreements with Royal Mail will enhance job security for Royal Mail workers and increase meaningful and transparent employee engagement in the joint aim of improving the service the company provides to the public.
Job Security, Resourcing and Managing Change further strengthens "no compulsory redundancies" commitments, extends and improves the voluntary redundancy procedures and provides new opportunities for part-time workers and those on non-permanent contracts.
And the agreement covering World Class Mail (WCM) addressed the difficulties that have arisen over this workplace improvement initiative by establishing key safeguards that place WCM securely within all national agreements, institutes an integral role for the union's IR and safety reps and provides for regular workplace feedback from all employees.
CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward, who led the union's negotiating team in these talks, describes the two agreements as "a solid achievement in the context of an industry that's facing unprecedented change on a scale never seen before."
According to Dave, there are two main drivers pushing this change agenda - the massive cultural shift in how we all communicate with each other and the ongoing transformation of our industry from a monopoly to one based on market competition between rival employers.
"These are the key realities facing us today - we can't turn back technological advance and we can't wish away the competitive market economy," he points out.
"But what the CWU can and will continue to do is defend and promote the jobs, pay, terms and conditions of all members and strongly influence the future direction of this sector.
"And these two agreements establish CWU members in Royal Mail in a strong position for the coming period and also set the standard for workers in the rest of the industry."
